


In the Woods Somewhere

by KingGrantaire



Category: American Gods (TV)
Genre: Anal Sex, Fae & Fairies, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Roland is a forest spirit, Roland looks like Hozier, Worship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:06:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23645872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingGrantaire/pseuds/KingGrantaire
Summary: After a small mental break down in the back of Wednesday's car, Mad Sweeney finds himself feeling distraught and useless. The woods have always been a place of solace. A place to think alone. Sweeney figures he'll sort shit out and head back to the car. He didn't expect to find an old friend waiting for him.
Relationships: Mad Sweeney (American Gods)/Original Male Character(s)
Kudos: 17





	In the Woods Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me as I was listening to Hozier and drawing American Gods fanart. I thought it would be fun to write about Andrew in his true form (aka immortal tree spirit) while also giving my boy Sweeney the love he deserves. 
> 
> Side note: I don't know any Gaelic, especially not the very old kind Sweeney and Roland would speak. So if you do speak or know any please don't roast me. 
> 
> I don't own any of these characters besides Roland (who just so happens to look a lot like Hozier).
> 
> Anyway, I would love any type of feedback and comments, so feel free to leave them.

Most people could smell a storm coming by its distinct scent settling in the air. Mad Sweeney, however, could taste it. Rain always held a clean, sweet taste. It wasn’t ruined by the chemicals that polluted faucet water. It carried with it the aftertaste of the earth, and no matter where the Irish man went, reminded him of home. He missed it. The wide, green land, and it’s foamy shores. He’d never admit it though. Not after the long, strenuous life he had lived in his homeland.

He sighed. It had been an hour since he had stumbled, frantically, out of the back of Wednesday’s car. The leprechaun was perfectly fine, until out of the blue, Shadow had begun to ask him about his life. Shadow had been cold to Sweeney since finding out about his part in his frustrating wife’s demise. He had practically shut down completely and the only time he addressed the redhead was to sneer and stare daggers into in face. Sweeney had to admit that he deserved it. He was surprised the other man hadn’t tried to kill him yet. So when shadow broke the silence in the hot, cramped car, and asked Sweeney about his past, it had caught Sweeney completely off guard. He had tensed and sat up to look at Shadow’s questioning face, before looking at Wednesday with an exasperated look. The old bastard was sleeping as peacefully as a babe. He looked back at Shadow with a murderous look. 

“It’s none of your fucking business.” The Irishman spat, leaning back into in his seat, before staring furiously out the window. Shadow didn’t press, and the ride was silent again. It was the silence that began to bother Sweeney. He was left alone with his thoughts. The familiar call of bloodshed began to swirl around his mind, and through it, he could hear the cries of his wife and child. The sounds of battle. He had pressed his head against the coolness of the car window and squeezed his eyes shut tight in an attempt to get rid of thoughts that tortured his soul. They wouldn’t leave, however, and this realization had spurred him into yelling at shadow to pull over. The other man had looked back at Sweeney with confusion, and then with concern when he noticed the ginger practically clawing holes in the door to get out. 

Shadow hadn’t even brought the car to a full stop before the door was unlocked and Sweeney was out of the car, stumbling on the asphalt. Sweeney could hear Wednesday waking and asking the reason for their impromptu stop. Sweeney had ignored it and had brushed off Shadow’s concerned features as he ran towards the wooded area to the right of them. He had disappeared into the trees and had tripped numerous times over roots and moss-covered rocks as he traveled deeper. Once he felt he was safe enough, he had dropped to his knees and sobbed.

He now sat, face red, clothes soaked, against the base of a huge redwood. He shivered heavily from the water that seemed to seep to his bones. His hands had begun to feel hot and prickly from the cold. These were things that should have signaled his return to the car, but he felt too numb to move. 

“Maybe I’ll freeze to death and won’t have to deal with any more of this shite,” Sweeney said under his breath, leaning his head back against the rough bark of the redwood. 

“You’ve dealt with worse, ya big baby.” Sweeney’s head shot up quickly, his eyes flying open in search of the painfully familiar voice. He found a figure perched on a rock in front of him. The figure, a man, was long and naked, covered only by a heavy, dark green robe that sagged off his pale shoulders. His dark, unruly curls were long and laid just past his collarbone. He wore forget-me-nots and baby’s breath in his hair, and his ruddy green eyes looked over Sweeney expectantly.

“Roland?” Sweeney breathed. He shivered and rubbed his hands furiously over his eyes, thinking maybe the man before him was just another hallucination or product of his madness. When Roland did not disappear and looked back at Sweeney with a smirk, the ginger let out another shuddering breath and scrambled to get to the other creature. Sweeney stumbled over roots and fell to his knees in front of Roland, looking up at him in disbelief. 

“Conas atá tú anseo?” Sweeney grasped at Roland’s hands as he tried to anchor himself to the other man. Roland smiled an amused smile and slid off the rock he sat on, before touching the leprechaun’s cheek. He smoothed his hands over Sweeney’s course beard and then threaded a hand into his messy, copper hair. 

“You’ve always had a way of getting your self into messes, eh Suibhne?” Roland commented softly. Sweeney let out an almost reassured sigh. He leaned into Roland’s touch and closed his eyes for a minute. He felt like crying again. 

“I’ve missed you greatly…” Sweeney whispered, pressing a small kiss to the side of the brunette’s mouth. Sweeney’s mouth moved to place another longing kiss to Roland’s jaw, and when he pulled away from the pale, beautiful creature, it was only to study his face. Roland hadn’t changed. Not one bit. Of course, tree spirits weren’t known to change, even if they were thousands of years old. 

“As I have missed you, my friend,” Roland said softly, wiping a smear of mud from the leprechaun’s cheek. He got up quietly, no leaves or twigs breaking under his weight, and walked to the based of the tree in which Sweeney had been sitting under only a few minutes prior. He placed his palm against the red-ish orange bark and sighed as he looked up the length of the tree. Sweeney watched as the other man studied the bark. He seemed just as soaked as Sweeney as if he had been waiting in the Oregon forest for him. He wondered how long Roland had been here. What had brought him to America? Sweeney cleared his throat. 

“ You never answered me, Roland. Why are you here?” Sweeney commented. The forest spirit turned and looked at the leprechaun with a sad smile.“Why are any of us here, love? So as long as people believe, we will follow where they go. I may not grant wishes or be a god in the traditional sense, but they want so desperately to have an answer as to where it all came from, and I like you, am just one of many options. One of many beliefs.” Roland answered, his fingers now fidgeting with a leaf.

After a moment of silence, he dropped the leaf and moved to once again crouch in front of Sweeney. 

“But I’m not here to talk about me…,” Roland raised an eyebrow. “ What’s this I hear about you working for Grimnir, eh?” Roland asked, giving Sweeney a look he assumed mothers gave their wains when they had gotten themselves into mischief. Sweeney rolled his eyes and scoffed. 

“I don’t need a fucking lecture, Ro. I owe him. You know that. Once my debt is paid, I’ll go piss off somewhere on my own.” Roland shook his head, his brow creasing with worry. He grabbed the gingers face in his warm hands and looked him in the eyes.

“He’s no good. You’ll get yourself killed. And without your luck-” Sweeney looked at the other man with confusion. “Don’t look at me like that. I know you’ve gone and lost it, ya idiot. And you don’t stand a chance against him without it.” Roland said, his face becoming serious. 

Sweeney pushed Roland’s hands away gently and looked away from him embarrassed and slightly frustrated. Roland sighed. He moved from his crouching position, and with practiced ease, pushed Sweeney down on the forest floor, before straddling the other man’s hips. Sweeney grunted as Roland settled himself there. Roland leaned down, close to Sweeney’s face, and looked him dead in the eyes. 

“You can pull your brooding tough guy act with those who don’t know you, but I do and I’m not buying it,” Sweeney tried to push away from the forest spirit, sensing emotion rising in his stomach, but Roland held his ground. “ You’re afraid, Suibhne. You’re afraid of the past. You’re afraid of madness. You’re afraid you will fail or that you already have. And you are afraid that they have all forgotten you. That they stopped believing in you.” Sweeney tried desperately to fight tears, but they came and so he squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears not wanting to endure any more of Roland’s words. Roland was right. He was afraid. So terribly afraid. And he felt he couldn’t do one thing about it. 

“Open your eyes,” Roland said, his voice stern but calm. Sweeney didn’t and instead covered them with his arms. Roland grabbed at them roughly and yanked them from his face. “Open them.” He whispered. 

Sweeney sighed and opened his tear-filled eyes before looking up at his friend. Roland wiped at the leprechaun’s eyes and kissed his red cheeks. 

“Maybe they don’t believe anymore. But I do. I believe in you, Suibhne. My beloved God-king. Fearsome protector. This will all pass. This storm that hangs over your head. But only if you make it.” Roland said, his voice barely above a whisper. “ I know you can. You once held the sun in your hands. You can again. You can be great again.” 

Sweeney stared at the other man for a moment. He rubbed at the tears on his cheeks and let out a shaky breath. For the first time in a very long time, he felt good. All the years and years of madness, humiliation, hatred, anger. It all seemed to be so far away. And when Roland began to kiss him, he felt as though he were home. 

How long had it been? How long had it been since he had seen Roland? Since he had made love to him? Sweeney figured it had been years. Thousands of them. And yet everything was familiar. The way Roland kissed him. The way he felt in Sweeney’s arms. It was always so gentle. It still was. 

“Mo chroí.” Roland moaned softly as he slowly moved up and down on Sweeney’s length. The leprechaun groaned lowly, and sat up, placing his hands on his lover’s hips, guiding him up and down in his lap. Roland followed the pace Sweeney had set for him and wrapped his arms around the ginger’s neck. “My king. My god. I worship you. Only you.” Roland gasped, his head falling back, his eyes closing. 

Sweeney couldn’t help it as his hips picked up in pace. He was close. Which normally he would have been embarrassed about. But it had been so long since he had felt so loved. Since he had felt this good. Hearing his name, his titles, his native tongue uttered by the only person still alive he adored, it made him feel elated. And when Roland cried out, his body tensing and shaking with his climax, Sweeney felt as though he was dying. He followed seconds after, burying his face into Roland’s neck as he rode out his orgasm. They breathed each other in deeply for a few minutes. The forest around them that had seemed to melt away, came flooding back with the sound of birds, rustling trees, and the dripping of rainwater. 

Roland was the first to pull away. He kissed Sweeney softly before settling at the leprechaun’s side. Sweeney smiled and fell back amongst moss and ferns.  
“They’ll be wondering if you’ve gone and offed yourself. Grimnir and the moon,” Roland said, running his fingers over a scar on Sweeney’s side. Sweeney chuckled.

“Let’s let them wonder for a while longer,” Sweeney said. He reached out and pulled Roland to him, kissing him deeply. He pulled away and laughed with delight. It seemed to bounce off the trees, and shake the ground.

“ And what if Grimnir sends the moon after you?” Roland asked, a playful smile tugging at his lips. 

“I’m not worried about Shadow Moon. Not when I’ve got the sun in my hands.” Sweeney said, plucking a coin out of the air with a smile.


End file.
